CHAPTER II HELD UP ON THE BORDER
When Bumpus put up this piteous plaint the other scouts exchangedglances. Here was an unexpected complication that faced them, a puzzlingriddle that would have to be solved.
Undoubtedly, when the news reached Antwerp that the great Kaiser hadsent his terrible army into Belgium, it was realized that although KingAlbert’s little army might offer a desperate defense that would coverthem with immortal fame, there would be but one end to such an unevenstruggle. The Belgians might inflict more or less sanguinary losses onthe Teuton host, but the machine-roller would eventually overwhelm them,and even Antwerp must fall into the hands of the invaders. And so themanagers of the famous Spa had concluded that it would be just as wellif they changed their location. They had a companion Cure in Paris, asthe boys well knew, and, accordingly, the entire faculty, together withthe trained nurses and most of the rich patients as well, had takentheir departure some time before.
If, indeed, Paris were seriously threatened by the Germans, it might belike jumping from the frying-pan into the fire. At least the step hadbeen taken, and here was Bumpus looking aghast at the idea of trying tofollow his mother, when the whole of Northern France must be seethingwith war preparations, trains taken over for military purposes, privatecars commandeered, and every available horse drafted into the service ofthe government.
No wonder, then, that Giraffe presently broke out in his explosive way:
“Gee whiz! Here’s a pretty kettle of fish, now!” he ejaculated. “Yourmother is in Paris, it seems like, just when the Kaiser’s army isheading that way hot-footed. And she asks you to follow after her, doesshe, Bumpus? Whew! I can see a bunch of fellows I know breaking into alot of new trouble trying to dodge a million fighters, more or less. Butremember. Bumpus, we’re bound to stick to you whatever happens.”
The party addressed gave Giraffe a look of affection. He could not trusthis voice to utter a single word just then, being so completely overcomewith emotion, brought on by his bitter disappointment.
As usual, they turned to Thad. When things all went wrong it was queerhow these boys of the Silver Fox Patrol placed their dependence on ThadBrewster to guide them out of the wilderness; and rarely had he failedthem in an emergency.
“We might be able to make it,” the leader told them, seriously, asthough he had been weighing the chances in his mind and already reacheda decision; “that is, if things favored us about getting away from here.We ought to go to the railway station at once and see when the firsttrain for Paris starts.”
“But, from all accounts we’ve had, the Germans are already far over theborder, and there is desperate fighting going on in a dozen places onFrench soil,” observed the cautious Allan. “I’m mentioning this fact,not because you’ll find me hanging back whatever you decide to do, butonly to get the situation clear in our minds before we take the jump.”
“You’ve got an idea of your own, I take it, Allan?” suggested Thadquickly.
“Well, since we’ve come all the way from Rotterdam by sea and found thegoing good, what’s to hinder our looking up a boat starting that wouldcarry us to Calais, Dunkirk or Boulogne? It strikes me that if we didmanage to land at one of those seaports we’d stand a much better chanceof getting through to Paris over the railroad than by coming down herefrom Belgium.”
“A bright thought, Allan,” admitted Thad, “so let’s climb aboard our rigand scurry back to the docks again, to inquire about the departure ofsouthbound steamers.”
They were speedily hastening back to the river, where those bustlingscenes were hourly taking place, for even at this early date every boatleaving for London was packed to its capacity with fugitive touriststrying to get out of the war-stricken country.
Upon inquiry the boys found that they were up against a disappointment.A boat had left only an hour before for Boulogne; indeed, theyremembered seeing it passing down the Schelde as they neared the docks.There would not be another bound for a port in France for three days, asmost of the vessels were being impressed into the cross channel servicejust then, heading for England.
Realizing that there was no help for it, Thad suggested that they giveup the scheme of going by sea. That long delay was terrible to eventhink of, and Bumpus could never stand idling his time away when hewanted so much to be on the move.
It was thereupon decided that they seek the railway _gare_ and board thefirst train that left for Paris. Of course this meant they would have totake great risks, for it could be understood that there was no tellingwhat delays they were likely to face. Still, they had no choice in thematter, unless they chose to cross to London and take chances of beingable to reach France in that roundabout way.
Shortly afterward they drove up to the railway _gare_ and dismissedtheir driver. Here, as everywhere, they found things in the utmostconfusion. Every uniformed man was being besieged by a score ofwild-eyed persons all wanting to know how soon their train would start,and if there was any hope that it might reach the destination for whichit was billed. They had the poor servants of the company almost franticwith trying to pacify them and be civil at the same time.
Thad went about the business in his customary cool, deliberate fashion.First, he learned that a train would actually start for Paris within thehour, though the official who gave him this information merely shruggedhis shoulders in an eloquent way when asked whether there was any chanceof its reaching the French capital.
Next Thad booked himself and three chums for the journey. They wouldhave to share the third-class compartment with a number of otherfugitives, all wild to shake the dust of Belgium off their shoes beforethose terrible Germans overran the whole country. This, however, did notbother the boys, for they were accustomed to camping out and takingthings as they found them. A little crowding was to be expected undersuch remarkable conditions as prevailed at such a time as this. All ofthem said they could stand it if the other people were able to endurethe crush.
When, later on, the signal was given for the heavily laden train tostart, there were numerous persons who had not been able to findaccommodations aboard. This came through the ever-growing desire to getaway from the city which undoubtedly sooner or later would hear thecrashing detonations of the monster mortars that had already smashed thesteel-domed defenses of Liege and Namur.
“Well, this is what I call rushing things some,” observed Giraffe, as helooked out from the window near his elbow and saw that they were alreadyleaving the environs of the Belgian seaport behind them. “It isn’t asmuch as two hours ago that we landed here expecting to pick up Bumpus’mother and then take passage across the English Channel to London, yethere we are heading right into trouble again, and like as not with agood chance of seeing more fighting than fell to our share before.”
As the minutes continued to glide by and they kept going at a good pacethe boys began to hope they might by great luck manage to get by thescene of hostilities without being held up. Bumpus looked at his littlenickel watch ever so often. No doubt the time dragged with him as neverbefore, for his faithful heart must be filled with misgivings concerninghis sick mother.
Thad, always observing, saw how the boy was worrying, and he severaltimes uttered words of cheer that were calculated to buoy the other’shopes up more or less.
“Take courage, Bumpus,” he told him, “and look back at our record whenyou feel despondent. We have always managed, somehow or other, toaccomplish whatever we set out to do, you’ll remember. No matter howdifficult the task may have seemed, we have been highly favored by goodfortune. And we’ll come through this time with colors flying.”
“I ought to be ashamed to let myself have a single doubt, Thad,” Bumpusfrankly admitted, as he turned his eyes upon the leader in whom he hadsuch implicit faith, “when right now I’ve got the backing of the bestpards that ever donned the khaki. Yes, I’m going to shut my teeth hardtogether, and tell myself that we’ve _got_ to get to Paris, no matter ifa whole German army
corps stands in the way.”
“Shucks! I should say so,” Giraffe hastened to remark, for he had beenlistening to all that went on in spite of the jabbering of other inmatesof the compartment, mostly French people hastening back home. “And, say,a railway train isn’t the only means of travel in these enlighteneddays; there are cars, and even aeroplanes, if you must come to it;though it’d have to be a buster of a heavier-than-air machine that couldtote Bumpus fifty miles across country, I reckon.”
They talked from time to time as they continued to progress over the lowcountry that lies toward the border from Antwerp, where canals seemed topredominate; and the boys were often reminded of the Dutch lands thathad been reclaimed from the sea by the erection of the great dikes toshut the water out of Flanders.
They knew that as the minutes passed they were undoubtedly drawingcloser to that region where trouble would possibly be lying in wait forthem, if it came about that they were fated to be held up on theirjourney to the French capital.
Hence every time the train slackened speed Bumpus would glue his eyes onthe landscape as seen through the open window, just as if he more thanhalf-expected to discover a horde of Uhlans, with their lances andpennons and prancing horses, waiting to take the fugitives into camp asprisoners.
Finally as the afternoon began to wear away they did come to a halt in asmall town. Thad announced that he believed they must now be on theborder between Belgium and France. Here, if anywhere, they ought to beable to learn what the immediate future held in store for them.
A guard unlocked the door of their carriage. Thad could see that the manwas looking displeased, as he made gestures with his hand to indicatethat they must all get out.
“Of course they mean to search us for prohibited articles, such astobacco and spirits,” Allan went on to say, as they hastened to complywith the order.
“I hope that’s the extent of the trouble,” ventured the doubting Bumpus;“but I’m awfully afraid this means we’re going to find ourselves in thesoup. I wish we could coax that fellow to give us a little information;try him, won’t you, Thad?”
There was only one way of making the guard talk, and Thad understood thevalue of a generous tip; so he managed to slip a coin in the willingpalm of the uniformed man, and then asked him something.
Thad had picked up a little French and could manage to make himselfunderstood. Then again the guard would readily guess just what each andevery passenger aboard the detained train must be anxious about, for itconcerned their chances of continuing the journey into France.
While their leader was holding this animated talk with the guard,supplemented on the part of the native with sundry expressive shrugsthat spoke more eloquently than words, the other three boys stood nearby, holding their luggage, and wondering what fortune had in store forthem next. So many strange things had happened to the party since comingacross the sea that they were rapidly getting to a point where nothingsurprised them very much.
Presently Thad joined them. His face looked grave, and poor Bumpusgroaned as he anticipated the worst.
“This train is going to be abandoned right here, boys,” Thad told them.“They had information that the Germans have overrun the country it mustpass through, and there would be no hope of our getting to Paris. We’vegot to try some other way around.”